1. Technical Field
This invention relates to methods of identifying a human subject for treatment of obesity based on genetic information, including specific gene sequence alleles within the genome of a patient which effects treatment response.
2. Statement of Related Art
Many drugs or other treatments are known to have highly variable safety and efficacy in different individuals. A consequence of such variability is that a given drug or other treatment may be effective in one individual, and ineffective in another individual. Thus, administering a drug to an individual in whom the drug is ineffective results in unnecessary expense and wasted time during which the patient's condition may significantly worsen. Also, administering a drug to a patient in whom the drug is not tolerated could result in a direct worsening of the patient's condition.
For some drugs, over 90% of the measurable variation in selected pharmacokinetic parameters has been shown to be heritable. For a limited number of drugs, DNA sequence variances have been identified in specific genes that are involved in drug action or metabolism, and these variances have been shown to account for the variable efficacy or safety of the drugs in different individuals.
Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is a protein that is required for the survival of embryonic chick ciliary ganglion neurons in vitro (Manthorpe et al. (1980) J. Neurochem. 34:69-75). CNTF variants having specific physical, biochemical and pharmacological properties are known. For example, Axokine® (SEQ ID NO:1-2) is a modified CNTF molecule with improved physical and chemical properties, which retains the ability to interact with and activate the CNTF receptor. (Panayotatos et al. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268: 19000-19003). Axokine® has been found to be effective for the treatment of obesity.